


Late Dawns and Early Sunsets

by robinrunsfiction



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-11-28 21:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18213818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinrunsfiction/pseuds/robinrunsfiction
Summary: The reader is arrives in town during the zombie apocalypse and finds a lot more than she anticipated when she stumbles into a grocery store.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally requested on tumblr. This story will be updated periodically.

You looked wearily to the sky, the sun was starting to sink lower and you knew you had to move faster. You glanced around and broke into a jog. You normally didn’t get this close to towns and you weren’t familiar with where you were. Then down the road you spotted something that made you think you might not be completely fucked after all.

You hurried toward the familiar chain grocery store, hoping to find something leftover to get you through the night, and maybe someplace to hide out for the night. You were desperate for rest. You glanced around before you slipped through the glass of the smashed outer door and found the inner doors ajar. Once you got past the row of cash registers, couldn’t believe your eyes. The store looked almost untouched.

‘This is too good to be true,’ you thought as you started down the aisles. There was no fresh produce, meat or dairy, but almost everything on the shelves was there.

As you moved through the store, you felt like someone was watching you. You gripped your bat a little tighter as you walked along. When you got to the end of the aisle something moved out of the corner of your eye to the left and you pulled your arm back, ready to swing, when someone behind you grabbed your bat.

“Hold up there Harley Quinn, you’re on our territory.”

You spun around at the sound of the voice to find yourself face to face with a hazel-eyed man who was just barely taller than you.

“The bat is more like Negan’s bat from The Walking Dead than Harley’s, but he had chains instead of nails in the end of it,” you heard a second voice say. The movement from the left turned out to be another taller man.

“Gee, not now,” the first man said to his associate before turning his attention back to you. “Why are you in our storehouse?”

You raised your eyebrows in surprise. “You keep a full storehouse with the doors open, why? To lure people in and what, leave em for walker bait or something? Hope a pretty young thing will come in and get on her knees to thank you for the possibility of some food?” You sneered.

“If you’re offering,” he replied with a smirk, running his tongue over his lip ring. You squared up to him with a glare, yanking your bat out of his grasp.  

“No, we take shifts guarding it in case someone stumbles in. You aren’t from around here, are you?” Gee asked, attempting to diffuse the situation brewing between you and his friend.

“It doesn’t matter. Listen, I have some bullets to trade for food, but know that I’m not desperate, so I’m not willing to get screwed, in any sense.”

Gee looked you up and down. “No, come back with us, we got more food at home, we’ll make something for you and let you get some rest.”

“Why?” You asked suspiciously.

“Aren’t you alone?”

“I got my friend Louie here,” you replied gesturing to your bloody bat. “I travel light so I don’t have anything or anyone slowing me down.”

“We’ll watch your back and you can rest, you look like you need it.”

You glared at both of them. They seemed harmless, even if they had got the drop on you. But Gee was right, you were tired and hungry and that’s probably how they did it in the first place. “Fine,” you replied begrudgingly.

You followed them out of the grocery store, waiting for Gee to lock the inner door to the store.

“My name is Gerard by the way, but you can call me Gee, this is Frank,” he said gesturing to the other man.

You nodded. “I’m (YN).”

You walked silently with them a short distance to a neighborhood with fairly large homes on large lots. The street seemed deserted, but being unfamiliar with the area, you couldn’t be sure who was hiding out or where. They then turned up the driveway of a house set back on a hill after passing through the large gate surrounding it.

“Here’s the fort, home sweet home” Gerard announced.

“Fucking hell,” you muttered under your breath as you took it in. Once inside you were surprised by the level of noise. You glanced around and saw all the outside walls were soundproofed like a recording studio.

You followed them back to the large kitchen where there was a group of men were playing cards at the kitchen table.

“All you dudes live in this one house?” You asked skeptically. Staying here was starting to feel even less appealing, if that was somehow possible.

“Oh no, here, let me introduce you,” Gerard said, taking the lead. “Hey guys, this is (YN). She’s gonna be here for a little bit to rest. She gets to eat whatever she wants too.“

They all said greetings at the same time.

“This is my brother Mikey, and that’s Ray, they live here with me and Frank,” they both waved, and you nodded. Gerard then pointed to a shorter guy in a hat, “That’s Patrick, he lives with Pete, Joe and Andy across the street.”

Patrick said hi quietly and you gave him a tight-lipped smile.

“And next door to them is Bren-” Gerard started as the door busted open. You whipped around gripping your bat tight as a tall, thin brunette man strutted in. “Speak of the devil.”

“Sup?” he said when he saw you standing there.

You didn’t respond other than to glare at him, irritation creeping in by his bravado. That’s how people got killed.

The loud talking continued to escalate as more people poured in. You were glad to see another woman when Nicole showed up, but you had no idea the last time you were around so many people. It quickly became too much.

When you noticed no attention was on you, you slipped up the stairs and into the first open door you saw. There was an open window, which you promptly crawled through and you breathed in the cool night air, finally enjoying some peace.

“Hey,” you heard someone say from inside the window. It was Frank.

“Hi,” you replied brusquely.

“Can I join you?”

“Its your house.”

Frank climbed through the window and sat next to you on the sloped roof. “What are you doing out here?”

“Its too loud in there, I’m not used to it.”

Frank nodded in understanding. “So, I don’t think I made a great first impression.”

“Ya think?” you replied, rolling your eyes.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair, looking at his shoes.

“Whatever.”

“You’ve really been on your own this whole time?”

“Yep. I was before it all went to shit, I am now, I’ll probably die alone as well.”

“You can stay here.”

You looked over at him like he was nuts. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“What? Are we really that bad?”

You paused. “Not really,” you muttered under your breath.

“What was that?” he asked with a smirk.

“Shut up, dick,” you replied, shoving him a little with a laugh.

“I like that,” he said.

“What? Being pushed around?”

“No, your laugh.”

You rolled your eyes. “What’s it like out here? Anything besides the walkers and all your loud asses I gotta watch for?”

“We aren’t that bad,” he insisted. “We know what we’re doing, and we haven’t lost anyone yet. But there’s a gang across town that we have to watch out for which is why we have someone posted up at the storehouse at all times. I’ll let you be on my watch shift.”

“Or I can go alone when no one else wants to go. I’m not going to be an asshole who rolls in and fucks with everyone’s lives.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “No one will care.”

“Hey,” you heard someone call from the ground below. You both slid closer to the edge to see Ray. “Get down here, food’s ready.”

You slid down to the edge of the roof and looked over, just one story up. You glanced back at Frank and pushed yourself off the edge. Not to be outdone, he followed right after.

“Great, now there’s two of them,” Ray muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

When you got around to the back door where people were congregating, your defenses immediately went up. Large groups were dangerous. They lured walkers and inevitably when people in large groups like this got bit, they never admitted it and accepted their fates. 

Large groups also reminded you of the shitty parties your so-called friends would drag you to, filled with people you didn’t fit in with. They weren’t really your friends, you didn’t have friends, and these people weren’t your friends either. You didn’t have friends and you didn’t need them. You only realized you had been staring incredulously at the group when Mikey walked up with a plate and held it out for you.

“Thanks,” you mumbled.

“Follow me,” he said nodding toward the house. You followed him inside where it was much quieter. “Didn’t seem like you wanted to be out there.”

You shook your head as you sat down at a table with Mikey. Ray was sitting there with Patrick and a guy you didn’t recognize.

“Who’s this?” The guy you didn’t recognize asked.

“(YN), who are you?”

“Andy.”

You nodded. “I don’t understand how you all haven’t been overrun by walkers by now with all the noise you make.”

“The walkers are more concentrated downtown. One of the benefits of suburbia I guess,” Patrick replied.

“That’s why I stick to the country. All alone. No one bothers me, no one slows me down,” you said matter-of-factly as you shoveled food into your mouth.

“That’s why you’re eating like you haven’t seen food in a month?” Mikey asked sarcastically.

You shot him a look. “It’s been a while, yea.”

“Where were you sleeping?” Patrick asked.

“I’d just climb a tree,” you replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world as they all stared at you like you had a just grown another head. “What?”

“You slept in a tree? I’m gonna call you Bird from now on,” Ray said with a chuckle.

“I don’t believe it,” Mikey said.

“Why not? Where would you sleep?”

“In a bed, like a normal human.” Mikey replied.

“There aren’t always beds, genius.” You snapped back. “Not all of us are living the suburban dream, ya know?”

“Sorry,” Mikey mumbled. You realized immediately that you had been too harsh on him. He was putting up a tough front, like everyone did now-a-days. It was the first line of personal defense.

“Well Bird, I hope you can adjust to sleeping in a real bed tonight, instead of perching in a tree,” Ray said.

“I dunno, I might miss the feeling of bark as a pillow,” you said trying to lighten the mood and they laughed.

Eventually Patrick and Andy excused themselves to go get ready for their shift guarding the storehouse, relieving two guys named Dallon and Ryan who had been their since this afternoon. You wandered back upstairs when everyone was distracted and found the room you had dropped your belongings in before you went out the window. It didn’t seem occupied since the only contents were a chair and an empty bookshelf. You heard someone coming down the hall and reached for your bat.

“Hey, woah, you can relax, no one is out to get you here,” Gerard said entering the room. “You wanna stay in this room?”

“Guess so.”

He nodded as he left the room and you heard something dragging.

“Here,” he said as he pulled a mattress into the room. “We’ll go find an extra mattress tomorrow, use mine tonight, I don’t sleep much anyway.”

“Shit, Gee,” you muttered. You didn’t understand any of these people at all. They just met you, when you were going to steal from them, and they were putting you up and feeding you.

“It’s no problem,” he said before waving and exiting the room. You sat down on the edge of the mattress and pulled off your boots. You sighed as crushing exhaustion came down on you like you like a wave. Seconds after your head hit the mattress, you were asleep.

~

“Ready for your first shift?” Frank asked, popping his head in the door. After a few days recuperating, you insisted you were ready to help pull your weight to make up for the generosity and hospitality they had been extending to you.

“I thought I was going with Mikey.”

“I’m coming too.”

“No. Nope. Not going. I’ll go trade with Ray, or Gee.”

“Oh come on,” he pouted. “I’m not that bad.”

You glared at him for a moment before picking up your bat Louie. “Fine, let’s go.”

The three of you walked silently toward the storehouse, but as you got closer you noticed Frank and Mikey exchanging concerned looks.

“What?” you whispered.

“We should have run into Pete and Joe heading out by now,” Frank replied.

“Maybe they fell asleep on the job or something.”

That didn’t seem to reassure them and you all picked up the pace. When you got in, you immediately spotted a shelf that looked ransacked  

“Shit,” you muttered as you all hurried over and found the two men out cold on the ground.

“Fuck,” Frank shouted. That seemed to rouse Joe who started to sit up.

“Still alive,” you said, as you found Pete’s pulse and felt shallow breath. You sat down and put his head on your leg.

“What happened man?” Frank asked gruffly.

“Four of them came in. We tried to stop them but they knocked us out. I’m sorry, we didn’t come armed, we’ve never needed to be.”

Pete was starting to come to, groaning lowly. You put your hand on his shoulder from sitting up too quickly.

“How long ago?” You asked.

“Not long, we were about to leave.”

“They had to know when we change shifts,” Mikey determined.

“They must be getting desperate.” Frank muttered.

“We can still catch them, get the stuff back,” you said.

“Mikey, can you help Joe get Pete back?”

He nodded silently and you helped Pete to his feet.

Frank turned to you. “You ready to do this?”

“I’m down for some murder.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has the most violence so far

You gripped Louie tight and hurried east with Frank.

“I think I hear them,” you said.

“Yea, this way.”

You followed Frank down the road. There were four men, but they looked worse than you did when you arrived in town, downright feral, and not much better than the walkers.

Frank ran up behind them and you followed.

“Hey!” He bellowed as you approached. “You fuck with my friends? You steal our stuff?”

They turned and looked at you. “Yea, what are you gonna do about it? We’ll fuck you up and take your girl with us,” the leader shouted.

“I don’t belong to anyone!” You shouted back.

You and Frank converged with them in the middle of the road. You gripped Louie tighter, a snarl on your face. The leader of the others took a swing at Frank, which he ducked, then swung back at him, knocking him on ass. Seeing their leader down, one took off running, while another jumped at Frank and you butted the third guy in the gut with the then end of your bat.

While you were distracted, the leader had gotten up and grabbed you around the waist. You stomped on his foot and threw your head back into his nose. He let go and staggered back. You looked over at Frank. He had just dropped the guy who jumped him but saw the one you hit first approaching Frank from behind with a knife drawn.

“Frank!” you shouted as you rushed toward the attacker and swung.

As Louie connected with the guy’s head, the wood splintered and broke. You cried out in shock as shards of your most prized possession, they only thing that kept you safe, lay in bloody pieces at your feet. The attacker hit the ground and his knife skidded out of his hands and landed against Frank’s foot. He looked at the body on the ground then back at you, a mix of appreciation and astonishment on his face.

Just then your attention was pulled back down the road. The guy who ran off back was coming back with reinforcements. Frank grabbed the knife off the ground and reached for your hand with the other. “Let’s go.”

You didn’t take his hand but took off running. He caught up and looked back. “They’re coming! This way!” he said taking off down a side street. As you ran down the back alley, Frank spotted a door and ran over to it and found it was open. The building appeared to be a barn that was converted to be used as a garage. When you were both inside, Frank barricaded the door with some machinery that was left there. There was a second story and you both hurried up the ladder to stay out of sight.

Frank leaned against the wall, out of breath. You sat down in the opposite wall, staring in silence at your empty hands. You were seething with anger and an unspeakable feeling of loss. Frank wanted to go to you, wrap an arm around you to comfort you, say something, but he saw the look on your face and knew nothing he could do or say would help. Instead he sat quietly.

“Smell that?” you whispered after sitting in silence what felt like forever.

“Smoke.”

You crept to the window and peeked out.

“The walkers will have you if don’t burn alive first. Your choice punks,” the leader shouted as two others laughed. They were just outside the door you came in.

“That’s the only exit.”

“Fuckers,” Frank muttered. Smoke was starting to quickly engulf the barn and you started coughing as it stung your eyes. Frank hurried to a window on the back side of the building. “Can you do two stories?”

You nodded. Frank went first and landed softly. You climbed out and dropped, but what neither of noticed was piece of debris on the ground that you landed on, your right ankle rolling. The pain was immediate and excruciating. You crumpled and bit your lip to keep from crying out. Frank helped you up and you hobbled away from the building, adrenaline pumping through your veins.

Once you were a few blocks away Frank spotted a dental office. “In here,” he said helping you into a chair in the first exam room and then hurrying away. With the door shut behind you, you finally let out a groan of pain.

“I can’t find anything stronger, but here,” Frank said holding out a few aspirin. “It’ll dull the pain until we get back.”

You took a few of the pills from his outstretched hand and dry swallowed them at once. You tried to control your reaction to the pain, but it was not easy, writhing as silently as you could.

“Just go,” you said through gritted teeth. “I’ll just slow you down, if the walkers find me, it will keep them off you for a while.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not gonna fucking leave you here, especially after you saved my life. Besides all the guys probably like you better than me by now anyway.”

You laughed a little at that as he sat down on the swivel stool that was in the corner and rolled himself over to you. You closed your eyes and waited for the pain in your ankle to subside.

Eventually the pain began to let up and you opened your eyes again, glancing over at Frank. You didn’t notice before, but he had been hit in the fight, a black eye forming. You were also surprised at the look on his face. He had his elbows on his knees, his chin resting on his bloody and beaten hands and he looked concerned, eyes staring into space. It was the first time you had seen him look serious since the moment you first laid eyes on him. He noticed you looking at him and snapped back to reality.

“Feeling better?”

“Yea,” you said swinging your feet off the edge of the oversized chair. You gingerly placed weight on your right foot and hissed in pain.

“Hold on,” he said jumping up and wrapping your right arm over his shoulder and his left around your waist. Your first instinct was to put up a fight, but you knew that it wouldn’t do you any good at this point.

“I’m pretty sure I know where we are,” he said as you made your way to the door of the building. “I grabbed the rest of the pain killers in case we can’t get back home tonight.”

“Frank, seriously, I’m dead weight, just go on without me,” you insisted again.

“No,” he said firmly. “Stop asking.”

~

The trip was slow and tedious, but luckily you didn’t run into any walkers. You were so relieved when you saw the big house on the hill. As soon as you were through the door, Gerard and Ray were on you.

“What the fuck happened? What did you do Frank?” Gerard shouted.

“Are you ok, Bird?” Ray asked.

“What did I do? We saved each other’s goddamn lives! (YN) wanted to be left for dead, but I wouldn’t let her,” Frank shouted back at Gerard.

You had slipped out from under Frank’s arm and hobbled over to a chair and sat down, finally and Ray came over.

“What happened?” He asked as you attempted to take off your boot.

“Had to jump from the second floor to get away from that other gang,” you replied, wincing in pain. Ray bent down and finished undoing the laces and slid off the boot as gently as he could, but you still hissed with pain. The ankle was bruised and swollen.

“Is your foot numb?”

“No, it feels great.”

He glared up at you.

“It obviously hurts like fucking hell.”

“Then it’s probably not broken. Looks like you aren’t getting away from us as soon as you hoped. So the others that attacked Pete and Joe came after you?”

“Yea, we went after them to try to get the food back. One of them was about to stab Frank and I broke Louie over his head.”

“Shit,” Ray muttered.

“One of them got reinforcements so we took off, hid on the second level of a garage, they lit it up and we had to jump. I landed wrong. I told Frank to leave me, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Sorry you had to deal with that,” Mikey said. He had come over when he heard the shouting between Gerard and Frank.

You nodded. “Do they actually get anywhere shouting at each other like that?”

Mikey shrugged and Ray shook his head. “Let’s get you up to your room.”

“I can do it, if you guys have crutches.”

“We’ll try to scrounge some up tomorrow. Mikey?”

Mikey nodded and before you had a chance to object, he had picked you up like you were his bride. As he carried you out of the room and up the stairs, it was the first time Frank and Gerard stopped shouting at each other since you walked in. You stuck out your tongue at them as you went by.

When you were to your room, he set you down on your bed and took off your other boot.

“Thanks Mikey.”

He nodded in acknowledgment. “You need anything?”

You shook your head and he left. When you were alone, you laid back and stared at the ceiling. You were exhausted. And in pain. And mad.

And for the first time in a long time, scared as hell.


	4. Chapter 4

Ray had the most first aid knowledge in the house and came up to bandage your ankle to the best of his ability later that night. He told you that you were lucky to be wearing your combat boots, or else the ankle would have broken, and you were given strict orders to stay off it. You noticed Frank hovering by the door with the same concerned expression on his face that you saw in the dentist office, but he left as Ray finished.

Over the next couple days, you waited impatiently for someone to find crutches for you, but it was proving to be difficult. Everyone insisted that they were looking while they could, and it was not just a scheme to keep you around. In the meantime, you stayed in your room, as you refused to let anyone carry you around.

“Hey (YN),” Frank said from the doorway to your room one afternoon. “I got you something.”

“Crutches?” You asked excitedly.

“No, better.”

Your face fell. “There is literally nothing that would be better than crutches for me right now. And why did you get me something?”

“Because you saved me.”

You groaned. “Fuck, does that mean I owe you something for saving me? Because you went against my demands not to, so…”

“Nah, you’ll need this anyway,” he said pulling an aluminum bat from behind his back. “Meet Lou 2,” he said as he presented it to you.

“Oh, I like,” you murmured as you took the bat in your hands and felt the weight of it.

“Now I can call you Harley Quinn without Gee correcting me.”

“Well thanks, I’ll need it when I go.”

Frank’s face fell. “You’re still gonna go?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you have friends here. We all think you’re rad and you’re safer here. We’re safer having you here.”

You stared straight ahead as the words ran through you mind. Friends. Safety. It went against your nature to want these things, and yet you were wondering if you wouldn’t be better off here after all.

“Besides, I’ll just follow you,” Frank said.

“It would surprise me if you didn’t,” you replied. You couldn’t help but smile again.

~

As you recovered, Gee, Mikey, and Ray would stop in to kill time with you. Patrick, Dallon, Ryan and Nicole came by a few times as well, but your most frequent visitor by far was Frank. A few days after your injury, you were sitting up in your room, deep in thought for what felt like the billionth hour when Frank appeared at the door again.

“How you doing?” he asked. You snapped out of your trance and looked up at him.

“I’m ok,” you paused, considering what you had on your mind. “I never said thanks for getting me back here, so thank you. And for the new bat. To be honest, I dunno if I would have done the same if I was in your place,” you admitted while not actually making eye contact with Frank.

“You aren’t that heartless.”                                                  

You looked up at him skeptically. “You saw what I did to that guy from The Silencers.”

“Yea, to save me. Admit it, you like me,” he said with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

“I like…” you paused again. “Your style.”

“My style?” he asked walking into the room and sitting backward in the chair across from you.

“Yea, that,” you said gesturing to how he was sitting. “The punk thing. The lip ring, the tattoos, the tore up jeans. That black eye is working for you too.”

“(YN), are you flirting with me?” he said with a shit eating grin.

“Shut up,” you snapped. You felt a slight blush on your cheeks and hoped he didn’t notice.

“Ray says we’re a lot alike.”

You wrinkled your nose at the idea.

“Yea, I mean our style isn’t that different. And we kinda have the same attitude.”

“Bullshit! I’m so much more sensible than you.”

Frank looked at you like you were nuts. “I’d say we’re about even. You did charge into a fight when we were out numbered and jumped out of a window.”

“Any reasonable person would have jumped out of that window in that situation.”

“If you say so,” he said with a laugh.

~

By that night you were sick of being stuck in your room, so you decided to escape out the window for some fresh air. You had so much on your mind still, you thought it might help.

“(YN)? Where ar- How the hell did you get out there?” You heard Frank ask from inside.

“Magic.”

Frank climbed out the window and sat down beside you. “Sure you should be out here?”

“As long as I don’t have to jump, I think I’ll be fine.” You said laying back to stare up at the night sky. “It just isn’t the same, is it?”

“What?”

“The sky. I’ve been waiting for it to fall down for years since the walkers came.”

Frank looked over at you and nodded.

“You know, all the stars I wished on as a kid were probably fucking satellites, that’s why none of my wishes came true,” you continued. You had been sitting alone with your thoughts for so long, it felt cathartic to be getting them out. “What good is any of it anyway? The only person you can rely on is yourself damnit. No one else.”

“You know that isn’t true,” Frank said quietly.

You felt the sting of tears burn against your eyes. He was right, you didn’t believe what you were saying about being alone. This group had taken you in, no questions asked, and you were better off for it.

“The only reason I even keep going is out of spite toward this whole damn world.” You squeezed your eyes shut and hoped Frank would be gone when you opened them. He wasn’t.

“Me too.”

You sat up and looked at him. You didn’t know how you expected him to respond, but you were still surprised.

“The world doesn’t want us to survive and that’s exactly why we have to,” he said looking over at you. “We have to live as a big fuck you to whoever and whatever wants us dead.”

“Yea,” you murmured quietly, nodding. He scooted closer to you and wrapped his arm around your shoulder. You didn’t flinch, you didn’t pull back, you didn’t fight. You rested your head against his shoulder. You let a few tears roll down your cheeks. He rested his head against yours and rubbed your arm.

“You’re the fucking coolest, (YN),” Frank said quietly after a few minutes of silence. “I really don’t want you to go. I was serious, I’ll just follow you.”

“I’m gonna stay.”


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a couple weeks since you injured your ankle and Dallon had been the one who managed to find some crutches in an abandoned home a few blocks over. Frank on looked on with jealousy as you declared Dallon your favorite person on earth. When you noticed the look on Frank’s face you decided to twist the knife a little further and even gave Dallon a hug, which seemed to startle him just as much as it irritated Frank.

Now slightly more mobile, you tried to insist that you should be allowed on patrols again, which everyone agreed was a terrible idea and not happening. Gerard suggested the idea if you wanted to help, that you could take over getting meals ready and keeping stock of the items in the house.

You had completely blown up at this, telling Gerard that he could shove his sexist ideas up his ass. Mikey and Frank had to talk you out of leaving right that minute and reminded you that the only reason he had suggested it was because you wanted to help, and they couldn’t risk you leaving the house. After cooling down, you went back to Gerard and apologized, citing being trapped in the house for so long was making you a little punchy and you were just ready to smash some skulls.

“Hey (YN),” Frank said coming into your room the next morning as you were pulling your boot on your good foot. “You wanna get out of the house a bit?”

“Obviously,” you grinned. Frank couldn’t help but smile back. He noticed that you had taken to smiling with him more often, the constantly serious expression becoming less frequent, at least around him.

“Well, come on,” he said as he headed out and down the stairs, you followed behind. Ray and Mikey were in their rooms and Gerard was off at the store, so you didn’t have to try to be so quiet. Frank held the front door open for you and you both made your way silently down to the road.

“Freedom,” you murmured as you got past the gate and Frank chuckled.

You both walked silently up the road. You hadn’t gone up that way before, never really needing to go past the house that direction. Frank then nodded toward a side street and you slowly made your way. There was a small park with a playground that hadn’t seen children in ages. You watched with an eyebrow raised as he climbed up onto the highest part of the play structure and looked around before sliding down the slide.

“Coast is clear,” he said quietly with a smile. You laughed softly at his antics. You made your way to the swings and sat down, dropping the crutches in the gravel, and you pushed yourself with your good foot.

Frank came up behind you and gave you a push, has hands strong against your back. “Thanks,” you said as you swung back to him before he pushed you away again. You closed your eyes and let the feeling of the air rush past you, back and forth. It felt freeing and the tension of being in the house melted away. Then your thoughts turned to Frank as his hands pushed at your back again.

It was like how you interacted with him. You pushed him away, but he came back. Why did you even do that? He always was doing so much for you. You knew he’d catch hell for bringing you out here if you got caught. He brought you a new bat. He wouldn’t give up on you when you were hurt. You trusted him. And even if you enjoyed bugging him, he really had become your favorite person in this mess.

As you swung back you let your good foot drag on the gravel, slowing you to a stop and Frank came around to look at you concerned.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” you said, looking him up and down. “Just thanks again. You’re always looking out for me and make everything less miserable.” Your heart was in your throat and palms felt sweaty.

Frank grabbed the chains of the swing just above your hands and looked into your eyes. “(YN), I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I’ll do whatever to keep you around.”

You reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down, his lips smashing against yours. His hand that was on the chain slid down so it was covering yours, the other running through your hair as your lips moved together, a feeling unlike any other.

Frank was grinning when you pulled back and it almost made you regret kissing him. “Frank,” you said, your tone cautioning.

“What?”

“Nothing. Should we go back?”

He scrambled up the playground again and looked around before sliding back down. “Yea, we’re good,” he said bringing you your crutches.

You arrived back at the house a few minutes before Gerard came rushing in, calling for everyone to come into the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” Ray asked.

“We got a situation with the Silencers. On the side of the storehouse they painted ‘Wolves, watch your backs’. I’m gonna get everyone over here and we need to get a plan together.”

You looked at Frank, concerned looks across both your faces.

“Guess that was a one-time trip then,” you sighed as you dropped into a chair. “I’m gonna be even more trapped than I was before, aren’t I?”

“I just wanted a chance to be out of the house with you again,” Frank whispered.

You let out a sigh as the others started trickling in, and Gerard informed everyone as to what was going on.

“I think we have to double up so we aren’t out numbered and no one goes unarmed. And we gotta change our schedule, so they don’t know when we’ll be moving around. Lastly, I don’t think we can have to mix up the patrol teams, so no house gets taken out entirely at once,” Gerard finished grimly.

Everyone looked at each other, a bit nervous of how quickly the situation was escalating.

“I’m not going anywhere without Frank,” you said suddenly, and all eyes were on you. “He’s the only one I know I can trust in a fight.”

“Yea, that’s fine,” Gerard replied, and Frank looked down at you. You shrugged and gave him a smirk as if to say ‘that was easy.’

~

The new schedule was set up that night, and you were told you would be allowed to go out on patrols in a week. You could barely contain your excitement and actually hung around with everyone else for a little bit before escaping to the quiet of your room when it became a little too much.

You dropped your crutches and pulled off your boot and adjusted the wrap supporting your injured ankle. The swelling was down significantly, and you smiled knowing you weren’t going to have to be stuck inside much longer.

“Hey,” Frank said from the doorway. You looked up and smiled at him.

“What’s going on?”

“Everyone’s down there pretending like everything is ok, and I,” he paused and went over to the window and glanced out. “I’m tired of it. Everything fuckin sucks, why throw a party, ya know? We should be getting ready to fight.”

You nodded silently. “Wanna talk plans for the fight then?”

“No,” he said before going out the window on to the roof. You made your way over to the window and followed him out. “Are you sure you don’t wanna run away anymore?”

You let out a laugh. “Seriously?”

“I said I’d follow you, let’s just go.”

“Shut up, Iero. We both know you won’t leave them. And now I won’t either. We’re Wolves, we don’t run alone.”

Frank looked over at you and smiled faintly before leaning in and you met him midway, his lips against yours. You parted your lips to let your tongue explore his and reached up to rake your nails against his scalp. He grinned his cocky grin against your lips and even though your eyes were closed, you couldn’t help but roll them.

When you parted you talked for a while, then you silently watched the stars and satellites up in the sky.

“Where are they?” Mikey muttered, glancing first in Frank’s room before moving to yours. Ray jointed him in the doorway of your room before he noticed the open window.

“There,” he said pointing out the window with a knowing smirk.

Mikey was about to speak until he saw what Ray had already suspected. You were asleep curled into Frank, your head on his chest. He had one arm wrapped around you holding you close, the other under his head as a pillow.

“Did you know about this?” Mikey asked with a shocked look on his face, gesturing back at the window.

Ray shrugged. “I kinda figured it would happen. They’re too alike to not end up either in love or killing each other. Or both,” he said as he walked out.


End file.
